Life's No Beach On New 'Shores'

March 9, 1996|By TOM JICHA and TV/Radio Writer

Living in the most palatial estate in a community renowned for ostentatious consumption can warp your perspective. A pharaoh would be honored to be buried in producer Aaron Spelling's sumptuous digs, which are outrageous even by Hollywood standards. Every zillionaire has an indoor pool - Spelling's place boasts its own ice skating rink as well as a movie theater and bowling alley.

Spelling is fond of noting that he comes from humble Texas origins but his current exalted status obviously affects his class consciousness. So his take on what constitutes a West Side Story-type conflict between young people is a little warped.

In Spelling's shorthand description of his new youth-oriented melodrama, Malibu Shores, the Jets and Sharks are the young people of Malibu's tony Colony and the neighboring San Fernando Valley. The sons of the beach resent the valley dudes, and vice versa.

In Broward terms, this would equate to the offspring of Hillsboro Beach looking down on the Parkland teens. Malibu is among the world's priciest addresses - but the San Fernando Valley isn't exactly urban renewal. Put it this way: Bob Hope, one of the few people in Hollywood who could match bankbooks with Spelling, lives in the Valley, as do many of the stars of your favorite TV shows. Remember Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Those were Valley teens. Did they seem underprivileged?

To put it in Malibu Shores perspective, the spoiled brats from the Colony drive Lexuses and BMWs. The poor Valley kids have to slum in American-made convertibles.

In any case, the premise is merely an excuse to put hot-blooded hunks and nubile babes in swimsuits and uber-chic ensembles. The Maria and Tony of this Pacific West Side Story are Chloe Walker from the swell set and blue-collar Zack Morrison.

Chloe isn't as shallow as her friends. (Disposable contact lenses aren't as shallow as her friends.) She's looking for more than teen beach parties with catered nouvelle California cuisine and valet parking. She finds it during a solitary stroll down the beach. Zack and his buddies are staging their own soiree, having climbed the fence with the "Private Beach" warning.

"Beaches should belong to the people," one Valleyite declares with the vehemence of "54-40 or Fight!''

Chloe and Zack connect instantly. She's so darned cute; as she slips Zack her phone number, she crinkles her nose between the 555 and 0116.

The West Side Story analogy comes into play when Chloe's older brother Josh becomes aware of the interlopers and gets territorial. The two wind up in a brawl which lasts until the cops arrive. A to-be-continued enmity is born.

Chloe would love to rave about Zack's good points to her family, but Josh has already poisoned that pond. In fact, he has convinced their mother, a high-powered attorney named Suki - only in Hollywood! - that Zack is an arsonist.

Michelle Phillips, who appropriately enough co-wrote and performed California Dreamin', has the only significant adult rule as Suki.

The pilot was intended to be a stand-alone TV movie. NBC, envious of Beverly Hills, 90210, asked that it be crafted to launch a series. Still, the Valley girls and guys get short shrift as the forbidden romance of Chloe and Zack is emphasized.

Zack, who fortuitously is transferred to Chloe's high school, has to endure all her friends. Chloe's closest pal is the ditsy Nina (Katie Wright), who will do anything to get in with the in-crowd; even doing "it" before she is ready.

Noting that all the other cool girls have done "it," Nina admonishes Chloe, "I'm 16. I don't want to be a pathetic old maid."So much for positive social messages to the target adolescent audience.

The arbiter of who's in and what's cool is a heartbreaker named Ashley. Her closest friend is Julie, another looker. Charisma Carpenter plays Ashley and Essence Atkins is Julie. How many other shows can claim two stars who share their name with a line of perfume?

Josh's best buddy - actually his toady - is the tormented Teddy (Christian Campbell), whose fashion-model father has no time for his son. Josh is his surrogate father figure. Whenever Josh feels all bummed out, all he has to do is mumble, "Hey Teddy, you want to go surfing or something?" and Teddy's there.

Aaron Spelling's son Randy, seeking to follow the stardust trail of his sister Tori, plays Zack's best pal Flipper, who has a minimal presence in the premiere. A final scene, which is obviously an attachment to a completed movie, creates the situation that reassociates Zack with his wrong-side-of-the-tracks friends and sets up the weekly episodes.